EXTENDING  THE  FIRING 
LINE  IN  KOREA 

As  I sit  in  my  study  I can  hear  the  tigers 
roaring  and  the  elephants  trumpeting  in  the 
forest  a quarter  of  a mile  away.  Does  that 
not  sound  romantic,  like  the  tales  of  pioneers 
in  Africa  and  India?  It  is  true,  but  not  as 
romantic,  for  the  animals  are  in  the  Zoo  that 
the  Government  is  creating.  However,  if 
one  could  believe  the  newspapers  here,  it 
would  not  be  hard  to  find  tigers  loose  any- 
where near  by.  Three  times  in  the  last  week 
in  widely  separated  parts  of  the  country, 
tigers  are  reported  to  have  attacked  people. 
It  is  true  that  deer  are  shot  15  miles  outside 
of  Seoul.  In  spite  of  these  things  we  are  not, 
as  one  of  my  friends  lately  intimated,  ‘'in  the 
banana  belt.”  Our  thermometer  can  go  high, 
but  it  can  also  go  the  other  way,  as  snow  on 
the  ground  two  months  last  winter  testified. 
We  are  only  a little  south  of  the  latitude  of 
Chicago.  It  is  likely  that  the  Japan  Black 
Stream  in  the  ocean  east  of  us  gives  our 
climate  its  semi-tropical  tinge. 

Summer  is  over  and  our  various  Annual 
Meetings,  and  I want  to  give  you  a little  sum- 
mary of  what  has  happened  in  these  last  two 
months.  We  did  not  get  our  hoped-for  trip 
to  Japan,  but  tried  to  console  ourselves  by 
six  weeks  spent  in  straightening  out  records 
and  finishing  up  all  sorts  of  odds  and  ends  of 
work.  July  23-August  3 — we  had  a Bible 
Chautauqua  for  Academy  students  onhr  at  our 
church.  About  40  boys  were  enrolled,  and  we 
had  a most  enjoyable  time.  Through  August 
I managed  to  visit  nearly  every  house  in  my 
city  congregation,  and  every  Sunday  after 
preaching  in  the  morning  at  the  Central 
Church  went  out  five  miles  or  more  in  the 


country  for  an  afternoon  or  evening  service, 
or  both. 

With  the  opening  of  September  guests  be- 
gan to  pour  in  from  the  out-stations.  In  all 
nearly  200  were  in  town,  and  in  our  own  home 
we  entertained  n for  more  than  two  weeks. 

Of  the  various  meetings  the  first  was  the 
Presbyterian  Council,  composed  of  all  the 
male  members  of  the  four  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sions in  the  country.  The  one  great  question 
before  this  body  was  that  of  our  relation  to 
the  Korean  General  Assembly.  Up  till  last 
year  the  Assembly  was  a mass  meeting  body, 
but  it  has  grown  so  large  that  this  year  it  was 
made  a delegate  body  with  one  pastor  and  one 
elder  for  every  five  congregations.  The  total 
number  of  Korean  delegates  this  year  was 
120.  We  missionaries  have  heretofore  been 
full  members  with  a vote,  but  it  was  felt 
by  many  that  although  there  were  never  more 
than  40  or  50  of  us  at  any  Assembly,  w'e  too 
had  better  be  on  a delegate  basis.  After  two 
days  of  discussion  it  was  decided  to  over- 
ture Assembly  asking  it  to  make  our  represen- 
tation also  on  the  two  to  five  basis,  leaving, 
however,  to  the  left  out  three-fifths  the  right 
of  corresponding  metribers  without  a vote. 
This  proposition  was  submitted  to  the  Assem- 
bly and  promptly  laid  on  the  table  for  at  least 
a year,  the  delegates  insisting  that  they  needed 
more  rather  than  less  of  the  foreigners  present 
at  the  meetings.  It  was  most  gratifying  to  us 
especially  as  an  exhibition  of  how  our  people 
think  of  us.  With  some  of  our  neighbor 
countries  beginning  to  think  the  foreigner 
superfluous,  we  wondered  a little  where  we 
stood.  Only  a few  of  the  delegates  were  will- 
ing to  entertain  the  proposition  for  a moment. 

General  Assembly  met  September  7-1 1,  and 
it  was  a great  session.  Rev.  G.  Engel  of  the 
Australian  Mission  was  elected  Moderator  and 
my  old  associate  in  the  North  Church,  Pastor 
Han,  was  made  Vice-Moderator.  Every  even- 
ing was  given  to  popular  meetings  on  Foreign 
3 


Missions,  and  all  of  our  missionaries  spoke. 
You  have  heard  of  our  Foreign  Mission  Work 
in  Quelpart.  That  was  begun  in  1907  and 
there  are  now  6 workers  there  and  over  a 
dozen  churches.  You  have  no  doubt  also 
heard  of  our  work  in  Siberia.  That  received 
a bad  set-back  two  years  ago.  Our  lone 
ordained  missionary  up  there  was  induced 
partly  by  threats  and  partly  by  promises  to 
go  into  the  Greek  Church.  For  a year  the 
work  has  rested,  but  now  our  man  wants  to 
come  back,  and  steps  are  being  made  to  send 
another  man.  Two  years  ago  we  tried  to 
send  a second  man,  but  we  could  not  get  a 
passport  for  him.  In  addition  to  all  this,  this 
year  the  Assembly  decided  to  send  three  mis- 
sionaries to  China  proper  in  the  interior  west 
of  Chefoo.  This  year  men  went  and  spied  out 
the  land.  Several  Chinese  Presbyteries  cor- 
dially offered  to  give  us  a field.  Three  splen- 
did fellows  were  chosen,  one  from  each  of 
the  northern  provinces.*  Their  money  for  a 
whole  year  in  advance  is  already  in  the  bank, 
and  they  sail  October  30th  for  Chefoo  to  be- 
gin the  study  of  the  language.  They  all  know 
the  written  Chinese  so  that  the  spoken  ought 
not  to  be  hard.  They  are  going  out  backed 
by  a great  volume  of  prayer.  It  was  a won- 
derful hour  when  they  were  called  before  the 
Assembly,  and  the  Moderator  gave  them  their 
charge  and  then  the  whole  Assembly  went 
down  on  their  faces  and  commended  them 
to  God.  Not  an  ordained  man  in  the  As- 
sembly but  would  have  given  all  that  he  had 
for  the  chance  of  going  in  their  places.  Think 
of  a Church  where  every  man  is  a volunteer 
and  the  envied  ones  are  not  the  men  in  the 
metropolitan  pulpits,  but  the  missionaries ! 
There  is  no  trouble  here  for  the  Board  to 
get  men.  The  whole  ministry  is  before  them 
and  every  man  praying  that  by  the  grace  of 
God  the  choice  may  fall  upon  him.  The 
church  that  we  expect  to  form  in  China  will 
* See  note  on  page  12. 

4 


be  an  integral  part  of  the  Chinese  Church 
and  not  under  us.  Only  our  missionaries  will 
report  to  us.  In  the  elections  this  year  I was 
elected  as  one  of  the  21  members  of  the  For- 
eign Board,  and  I consider  it  one  of  the  high- 
est honors  that  I have  ever  held. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Mission  at 
Pyeng  Yang  steps  were  taken  looking  toward 
the  opening  of  a station  in  Manchuria.  Since 
the  Japanese  began  coming  into  Korea  the 
Koreans  have  been  going  north  across  the  bor- 
der in  trainloads.  Already  there  are  said  to 
be  800,000  in  Manchuria  in  territory  contigu- 
ous to  the  Canadian’s  work  and  300,000  in 
that  next  to  ours.  Whole  churches  in  some 
cases  have  gone  across  the  border.  For  three 
years  our  Pyeng  An  churches  have  main- 
tained Korean  pastors  there,  but  there  are 
already  26  churches  that  we  know  of  and 
rumors  of  Christians  in  many  other  places. 
It  is  our  exclusive  field.  The  Scotch  Presbys 
and  Danish  Lutherans  in  Manchuria  are  all 
undermanned  and  unable  to  care  at  all  ade- 
quately for  the  Chinese.  If  we  do  not  do 
this  work  it  will  not  be  done.  We  are  asking 
the  Board  to  send  us  three  men  for  a new 
station.  I have  been  assigned  the  duty  of 
prospecting  the  field  during  the  month  of 
November.  I go  first  to  Mukden,  thence  to 
the  coal  mines  of  Fushun,  thence  150  miles 
east  by  cart,  hold  one  Bible  Chautauqua  of 
a week,  thence  to  our  northermost  station, 
Kangkei  for  another  class  and  back  to  the 
railroad.  It  will  be  a hard  but  interesting 
trip. 

One  of  my  friends  recently  wrote  asking 
why  I never  wrote  about  the  discourage- 
ments of  the  work.  As  a rule  I do  not  like 
to  do  so  for  our  Father  gives  so  much  that 
it  seems  mean  to  speak  of  the  other  things. 
I have  one  anxiety,  though,  that  I want  to 
mention  this  time  and  ask  you  to  pray  with  11s 
about  i.  e.,  that  on  September  1st  our  parochial 
day  schools  at  the  Central  Church  were  unable 


to  re-open  because  of  lack  of  funds.  For  ten 
years  the  schools  have  been  of  the  best  in 
town,  in  fact  they  were  the  first  modern 
schools  of  any  in  Seoul.  We  have  had  four  to 
six  teachers  and  70  to  200  children.  It  costs 
now  about  $35  gold  per  month  to  run  the 
schools  properly,  and  the  congregation,  in  ad- 
dition to  salaries  of  their  pastor,  assistant 
pastor,  two  Bible  women  and  janitor,  and  in- 
cidentals, lights  and  fuel,  could  only  raise  $15. 
The  newT  Government  regulations  require  such 
a high  standard  that  we  could  not  cut  down 
and  run  on  a small  scale,  so  that  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  rest  awhile.  Yesterday  I was 
summoned  to  the  Educational  Bureau  and 
told  that  unless  we  opened  before  March  first 
our  permit  would  be  revoked.  Some  of  our 
children  are  attending  other  church  schools, 
but  most  of  the  boys  have  gone  to  heathen 
or  Government  schools  where  they  are  forced 
to  join  in  the  Shinto  rites  and  can,  with 
difficulty,  keep  the  Sabbath.  Of  the  70  that 
used  to  sit  around  my  feet  as  I preached 
scarcely  20  now  attend.  We  are  devising  new 
means  to  hold  them,  but  it  means  a hard 
pull  if  we  cannot  re-open  the  school.  So 
much  for  difficulties.  We  are  asking  our 
Father  to  show  us  the  way  over  these  and 
He  will. 

December  nth,  1913. 

I have  just  returned  from  a five  weeks’ 
trip  in  Manchuria,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
trios  I have  ever  made. 

Ever  since  the  Japanese  began  to  come 
into  Korea  in  great  numbers,  the  Koreans 
have  been  crossing  to  our  northern  border  to 
Manchuria  and  Siberia.  All  sorts  of  esti- 
mates of  the  total  have  been  made  but  it  is 
likely  that  it  is  over  a million,  as  half  that 
number  is  said  to  be  in  the  territory  around 
Vladivostock.  In  Manchuria  our  American 
Consul-General  estimates  that  there  are  at 
least  300,000.  In  that  part  of  Manchuria  con- 

6 


tigitous  to  our  Pyeng  An  Province  work, 
there  are  something  like  150,000.  Many  of 
these  were  Christians  before  going  and  in  the 
new  land  they  have  set  up  their  churches  first 
of  all.  For  two  years  or  more  North  Pyeng 
An  Presbytery  has  supported  an  ordained 
pastor  up  there,  and  the  people  have  sup- 
ported a helper.  The  work  has  grown  too 
large  for  such  slight  provision,  so  that  last 
Annual  Meeting  the  Mission  debated  long  as 
to  opening  a new  station  and  were  only 
deterred  by  the  lack  of  men  to  send.  We 
appealed  to  the  Board  to  send  us  the  men, 
and  in  the  meantime  I was  asked  to  go  on 
an  exploring  trip  to  the  center  of  the  work, 
meet  Messrs.  Rhodes  and  Hoffman  of  Kang- 
kai  there,  and  hold  a Bible  Class.  I went  by 
first  train  to  Mukden,  500  miles.  I found 
there  a church  of  40  Christians,  and  that  they 
had  raised  80  yen  towards  a new  church 
building.  They  said  there  were  about  200 

more  Christians  in  the  country  close  around 
Mukden,  and  many  more  scattered  up  and 
down  the  railroad  all  the  way  to  Chang  Chun 
and  Siberia.  Twenty-three  miles  east  of 
Mukden,  at  the  Japanese  coal  mines  of 
Fushun,  there  is  a very  large  settlement  of 
Koreans  of  whom  a few  are  Christians. 

I spent  a most  interesting  day  in  Mukden. 
The  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterians,  each  one, 
have  a large  church  there,  the  former  having 
two  Chinese  native  pastors.  I have  been 
told  that  it  was  but  133  miles  from  Mukden  to 
Tunghwa  where  our  Bible  Class  was  to  be 
held,  but  found  in  Mukden  that  it  was  200, 
so  when  we  started  east  we  had  to  travel  al- 
most night  and  day.  Every  morning  we  were 
on  the  road  at  3 130,  and  the  first  day  we 
started  at  2:30.  We  traveled  by  Chinese  cart, 
the  most  exquisitely  uncomfortable  method  of 
locomotion  ever  devised.  The  carts  are  all 
two-wheeled  with  wheels  of  massive  solid 
oak.  There  are  no  springs.  One  sits  on  boards 
flat  down  over  the  axle.  On  top  is  a little 
7 


coop  of  strongly  braced  hardwood,  about  3 
feet  wide,  3 ft.  high,  and  4 ft.  long.  One  sits 
inside  the  coop,  and  every  time  the  cart  tips 
or  jolts,  which  it  does  at  about  every  revo- 
lution of  the  wheels,  one  gets  a bump  or  a 
whack  on  the  arm  or  head.  I did  not  learn 
till  the  tenth  and  last  day  that  a seat  out  on 
the  shaft  with  the  driver,  though  chilly,  was 
the  most  comfortable.  The  missionaries  in 
this  part  of  China  all  travel  in  these  carts,  and 
they  say  that  they  are  not  so  bad  when  one 
can  drive  slowly  and  carefully,  but  making 
130  li  per  day  in  one  of  them  is  distinctly 
no  picnic. 

Each  night  we  slept  in  the  smoky,  greasy 
Chinese  inns.  Each  of  them  is  almost  iden- 
tically like  every  other — a great  cavernous 
barn  without  partitions,  20  ft.  wide,  and  6o 
or  70  ft.  long.  Down  the  center  is  an  un- 
floored aisle  8 ft.  wide.  Extending  from  it  to 
the  walls  on  each  side  is  a 6 ft.  wide  brick 
bench  18  inches  above  the  floor.  The  teamsters 
and  travelers  slept  on  this  bed  with  their  heads 
to  the  aisle.  Looking  down  the  long  room 
they  seemed  corded  up  like  firewood.  All  of 
the  cooking  was  done  over  a wood  fire  right 
in  the  room  with  no  chimney  or  outlet  for 
the  smoke.  It  filled  one’s  eyes,  and  almost 
suffocated  one.  Everything  was  drenched  with 
pig  grease.  One  night  when  we  got  into  an 
inn,  a little  smaller  and  dirtier  than  usual, 
we  saw  four  Chinese  sitting  playing  cards  for 
money.  We  got  supper,  went  to  sleep,  waked 
up  at  leaving  time  and  those  four  Chinese 
were  still  there.  Evidently  they  had  not 
moved  all  night.  Most  of  the  money  was  in 
front  of  one  man,  but  otherwise  it  was  easy 
to  believe  they  had  not  moved  a muscle.  Cer- 
tainly they  scarcely  made  a sound.  It  was  a 
fine  commentary  on  poor  China’s  need,  that 
they  were  sitting  right  in  front  of  the  cur- 
tained recess  in  which  their  household  gods 
were  kept 

At  Tunghwa  I met  Mr.  Rhodes  and  Mr. 

8 


Hoffman  and  the  Koreans  from  all  over  the 
district,  and  we  had  one  of  the  finest  classes 
that  I ever  was  in.  There  were  140  enrolled, 
five  of  them  being  women.  They  came  from 
16  different  groups,  averaging  30  miles  travel 
each.  We  found  that  not  counting  the 
strip  of  territory  along  the  Yalu,  80  li  wide, 
where,  of  course,  there  are  a number  of 
churches  that  are  worked  from  Kangkai  and 
Syen  Chun,  there  are  28  churches  now  within 
250  li  of  Tunghwa  about  equally  distributed 
to  all  points  of  the  compass.  There  are  1,680 
Christians  and  of  them  800  are  baptized.  There 
is  a tremendously  high  mountain  ridge  parallel 
to  the  Yalu,  about  60  to  80  li  back,  that  iso- 
lates this  territory.  The  population  total  is 
very  difficult  to  get  at  as  the  Chinese  keep 
few  records,  and  will  not  tell  if  they  do  know, 
but  we  asked  the  Koreans  to  give  the  exact 
number  of  Korean  households  within  20  li 
of  each  church,  and  that  was  14,000.  In  China 
a ‘'house”  is  averaged  at  about  ten  people. 
The  Koreans  over  there  all  wear  Chinese 
clothes  and  all  are  learning  Chinese.  All 
have  applied  for  naturalization  and  some  have 
fully  secured  it.  Nearly  all  are  farming  stump 
claims  where  they  get  an  eight-year  lease 
free  on  condition  that  they  grub  out  the 
stumps  and  make  the  land  usable.  After 
eight  years  they  must  pay  rent.  Conditions 
are  terribly  hard.  Most  of  the  Chinese  are 
good  to  them  but  there  are  glaring  excep- 
tions. The  land  is  poor,  most  of  it  being 
steep  uplands.  There  is  very  little  of  patri- 
otic talk.  All  seem  content  to  settle  in  China 
and  thoroughly  identify  themselves  with  her. 
They  have  two  schools  now  and  others  in  the 
forming.  Especially  to  be  noted  is  the  work 
of  Dr.  Kim,  a graduate  of  our  Seoul 
Medical  College.  He  has  rented  and  fitted  up 
buildings  in  Tunghwa  for  a hospital  large 
enough  to  accommodate  20  in-patients.  The 
local  magistrate  has  promised  if  Kim  will  get 
guaranteed  support  for  a hospital  he  will 
9 


erect  him  a building.  We  talked  over  with 
the  Scotch  Mission  the  project  of  our  open- 
ing a joint  station  in  Tunghwa  until  the  work 
was  large  enough  for  us  to  put  in  a full 
force.  Dr.  Kim  and  others  said  that  if  we 
opened  a station  there,  in  five  years  we  could 
have  at  least  four-fifths  of  the  Koreans  in 
the  territory  as  they  feel  lonesome  and  friend- 
less and  would  give  us  such  a hearing  as  few 
heathens  in  Korea  would.  . . . 

I forgot  to  tell  you  that  in  Tunghwa  and 
each  of  the  county  seats  near  it,  we  found 
Mohammedan  mosques.  They  say  that  they 
have  not  increased  in  membership  for  fifty 
years  but  they  still  exist  and  are  active. 

In  all  Manchuria,  after  coming  25  miles 
from  Mukden,  I saw  in  all  but  two  Japanese. 
Thousands  live  along  the  railroad,  but  almost 
none  elsewhere.  Also  from  25  miles  out 
from  Mukden  to  100  miles  from  Mukden  I 
did  not  find  a single  Korean  living  and  could 
get  no  word  of  any.  There  seem  to  be  two 
distinct  districts  of  Korean  occupation,  one 
along  the  railroad,  and  the  other  centering 
200  miles  east  of  that.  Between  is  this  blank 
spot  75  miles  square.  Of  course  the  strip 
along  the  Yalu  is  Korean  all  the  way  up. 

Charles  Allen  Clark. 


THE  KOREAN  CHURCH 

The  figures  this  year  in  the  Korea  Mission 
show  a steady  progress  in  spite  of  the  evi- 
dence of  the  loss  in  some  items.  The  total 
of  42,913  baptized  shows  an  increase  over 
last  year  of  3,438,  or  nearly  10%.  Subtract 
the  total  baptized  in  Fusan  station,  1,881, 
and  there  is  still  over  41,000  left.  The  class 
of  catechumens  has  not  gained  as  many  as  it 
lost  by  baptism  and  other  causes  by  about 
4,000,  and  the  total  of  adherents  has  lost 
xo 


about  the  same  amount.  It  is  impossible  from 
last  year's  figures  to  get  any  idea  of  the  num- 
ber of  pastors  and  organized  churches,  but 
comparing  with  the  year  before,  there  are 
53  ordained  pastors  instead  of  23,  more  than 
double ; the  78  organized  churches  have  in- 
creased from  78  to  135,  nearly  80%.  Sunday 
schools  are  reported  increased  in  number  com- 
pared with  last  year,  and  with  larger  attend- 
ance, 4,000  more  gathered  this  year  than  last 
in  the  Bible  classes,  the  gain  largely  among 
the  women.  More  than  half  the  church  ad- 
herents was  gathered  in  these  classes,  seven 
Bible  institutes  enrolled  503  students,  one- 
third  of  them  women.  Although  there  are 

51  primary  schools  less  than  there  were  last 
year  there  are  more  students  by  exactly  100 

than  last  year.  This  shows  that  the  schools 

though  fewer  than  last  year  are  larger  and 
more  efficient.  41,000  yen  was  given  this 
year  compared  with  34,000  yen  last  year,  a 
gain  of  more  than  20%.  In  the  medical 

work  there  is  only  the  total  receipts  with 
which  to  compare,  but  in  this  there  is  a gain 
of  7, coo  yen,  or  30%.  Nor  have  the  other 
contributions  fallen  off.  For  building  and  re- 
pair and  for  general  purposes  the  figures  are 
within  a few  hundred  yen  of  last  year’s  fig- 
ures, 44,000  and  46,000  yen  respectively.  For 
church  and  congregational  expenses  this  year 
there  was  contributed  56,000  yen,  a gain  over 
last  year  of  14,000  yen,  or  3 3^/3%.  For  Flome 
and  Foreign  Missions  this  year  10,400  yen 
was  given,  4,800  more  than  last  year,  or  more 
than  85%.  The  total  of  native  gifts  this  year 
was  159,000  yen ; counting  native  medical  fees, 

177.000  yen;  or,  counting  on  the  same  basis 
as  last  year,  including  all  medical  expenses, 

185.000  yen,  showing  a gain  of  27,000  yen. 
This  means  2.00  yen  per  adherent,  or  4.30  yen 
per  communicant,  or,  taking  the  more  exact 
figure  of  159,000  yen,  this  represents  1.70  yen 
per  adherent  and  3.70  yen  per  communicant. 
These  totals  are  surpassed  only  by  the  bumper 


years  of  1909  and  1911,  and  then  only  be- 
cause there  was  a furor  for  education.  Con- 
tributions for  other  purposes  show  a de- 
cided gain. 

To  sum  it  all  up,  a church  that  is  gaining 
in  baptized  membership  in  one  year  more  than 
the  baptized  membership  in  any  one  of  our 
four  smaller  stations,  in  fact  nearly  as  much 
as  the  total  adherentage  in  any  of  these  sta- 
tions, that  is  giving  for  purely  evangelistic 
work  over  73,000  yen,  or  more  than  172 
yen  for  each  of  its  426  native  paid  workers, 
that  is  giving  over  1.00  yen  per  member  for 
building  churches  and  nearly  that  much  for 
the  running  of  its  schools,  that  in  spite  of 
the  storm  and  stress  of  the  past  year  has  only 
lost  from  those  most  loosely  attached  a little 
over  4%,  that  church  is  on  the  way  towards 
the  mark  set  before  it  of  becoming  a self- 
propagating  and  self-supporting  church.  May 
every  member  feel  effectively  that  it  is  his 
duty  to  add  to  the  efficiency  of  this  church 
by  a constant  alertness  that  shall  discover 
the  leaks  and  put  its  finger  on  the  weak  spots. 

Note. — The  picture  on  title  page  is  that  of  the 
Rev.  Pak  Tairo  who  was  called  from  the  pastorate  of 
the  Chai  Ryang  City  Church  to  be  its  first  member 
of  the  General  Assembly’s  Mission  to  China. 


The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York  City 

Form  2103  February,  1914 


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